Electronic Portfolio

I.     The Idea of Portfolios

Electronic portfolios are websites designed, built, and maintained by you for the purpose of showcasing your best work in Core Discovery. The work contained in these will represent the various exercises and assignments completed for the course, but it may also include other work deemed relevant by you.  Each entry in the portfolio must be preceded by an evaluative comment written by you to explain why you have selected this for inclusion in your portfolio.  These are works in progress, and should be updated as each semester goes along. Your portfolio should represent the unique experience that you have had in this class and your reflection on that experience. As such, they serve as an invaluable tool, helping you keep track of what you are learning and what goals you are achieving through your work in Core Discovery.  Portfolios are a required part of this Core Discovery course. 

II.     The Nature of Portfolios

Your portfolio will be a website that you construct on a server where you have an account.  This can be the university server, but it need not be.  The site will include a front page that can either be the template that will be available for downloading from the Monsters homepage or a page of your own design.  The only restriction is that your front page must include links to the following pages:  Introduction, Sketchbook, Projects, and Links.  (You may have more than these, but you must have at least these.)  Each of these pages will serve to introduce your visitor to your best work on each of these parts of the course. In particular, these pages should fit the following profiles:

 

A.  Introduction:  This should supply a visitor with a map of your portfolio.  In addition, it should supply a brief intellectual biography, including reflective comment on your learning style, your experiences in Core Discovery, how Core Discovery fits into your university experience as a whole, and how these factors (among others) have guided you in selecting entries for your portfolio.  The Introduction should supply the visitor with an appreciation for who you are as a student, and, more specifically, who you are as a student in Core Discovery.

B.  Journal/Sketchbook:  This page should contain text, as well as drawings and other artwork, from your sketchbook/journal.  The text can be keyed into the portfolio, but the drawings and artwork should be scanned in.

C.  Projects: Over the course of each semester, you will do three mini-projects and one final project. 

D.  Links: This page should include links to monster-related sites that you find interesting.  Each link should be annotated to indicate where it takes you.

 

Your portfolio may include more than these entries, but it must include these.  Each entry you make in sections (B) through (D) must be preceded by a paragraph in which you describe (1) your understanding of the assignment, (2) your strategy for completing the assignment, and (3) why you selected the specific entry you did, and (4) what you learned from doing the assignment. 

Beyond these specific elements, your portfolio is yours.  Be creative with the design and deliver---go wild!  But be careful---remember that you will have visitors, and they must be able to navigate your site, locate the entries, and understand what they have found.

III.     Evaluating Portfolios

Portfolios will be evaluated at two points during the Spring semester---once on March 24 and once on May 11.  The lists of entries for each evaluation are included below.  ( I have retained the requirements from last semester, so that you can tell how they build on one another.)  The portfolios will be evaluated on a +/√/-- system.  If your portfolio does not include all of the required entries, you will receive a “--“.  If it includes all of the required elements, it will receive at least a “√."  A “+” will be awarded to portfolios that demonstrate a commitment of time and energy, i.e., portfolios that go beyond mere satisfaction of the requirement. 

IV.     Building Portfolios

You must learn how to build a homepage.  This can be done with space available on the university UNIX server. 

Begin constructing your homepage by using this tutorial if you are using the uidaho server. Here are two links that take you to more information about portfolios:

http://www.cyborglab.pdx.edu/PortfolioProject/

http://www.ous.pdx.edu

V.     Portfolios by October 7

By October 7, you need have the following things to earn a “+” on your electronic portfolio:

1.         Accessible Homepage.  I will ask you on October 7 to give me the web address (i.e., your URL) where I can go to find your electronic portfolio.  If you do not have one, you will earn a “—“ on the assignment.

2.         Electronic Portfolio Front Page.  When I plug in your address and pull up your page, I should find either your portfolio or find a page with a link to the portfolio.  This front page must have links to the following further pages:

a.     Introduction

b.     Journal/Sketchbook

c.     Projects

d.     Links

The nature of each of these pages is described above.  If you wish to use a template as your portfolio frontpage, you may go to

      http://www.its.uidaho.edu/monsters/ep-template.htm

and save the file onto your computer.  The file will be saved under what name you give it, along with a folder by the same name that contains three pictures.  You must then open your web construction software (e.g., FrontPage), access your web, and import this newly saved file and its associated folder onto your web.  Be sure you import one file and one folder.  You can then open the file in FrontPage and manipulate it. You will need to create pages for each of the 6 sections above and link to them.

3.         Journal/Sketchbook: From your Journal/Sketchbook page, you need to link to two pages from your journal/sketchbook. These will need to be scanned in. 

4.         Projects:  From your Project page, I should be able to link to copies of your first two mini-projects.  You may need to scan part of your second mini-project in, which shouldn’t be a problem.  There will be information on the web that helps you with this, and I will also be available to help next week.  Once you have the scanned file, you can import it to your web and then insert it into a blank web page, to which you can then link.  As for the text files, just save them as html documents and import them into your web in that form. 

5.         Reflective Commentary: Each of these projects and journal pages should be preceded with a paragraph that addresses the four issues above, viz., (1) your understanding of the assignment, (2) your strategy for completing the assignment, and (3) why you selected the specific entry you did, and (4) what you learned from doing the assignment.

VI.       Portfolios by December 14

By December 14, you need to have all of these things to earn a “+” on your portfolio.  You are of course encouraged to have more.

1.                  Electronic Portfolio Front Page.  This should have been in place by October 7; if it was not, it should be by this time. 

2.                  Active Links.  You need to have links to the following pages: Introduction, Journal/Sketchbook, Projects, and Links.

3.                  Introduction Page. This should describe the purpose of this portfolio, and perhaps also a bit about yourself, if you are so inclined.  The fact that it is associated with this class and the nature of this class should be indicated.  I’m looking for a paragraph or two.  You could fold this into your front page, if you would prefer.  In that case, you wouldn’t need a link to an introduction page.

4.                  Journal/Sketchbook Page.  This should be a standalone page with links from it to three scanned pages from your journal/sketchbook.  These scanned pages should be representative pages, so if you have some art, be sure that at least one of them is art.  Each of the page scans should be described briefly, probably on the journal/sketchbook page before the links to the scans.

5.                  Projects Page.  Like the J/S page, this should be standalone page with links from it to the three mini-projects and your final project.  Each project should be described—you should talk briefly about the nature of the assignment and why you chose to complete it as you did.  If you learned anything in particular from the assignment, include that in the brief description. 

6.                  Links Page. Once again, a standalone page with at least five links to other monster-related sites.  Describe each of these links on the page so that a visitor would know where they are going if they clicked.

VII.      Portfolios by March 24 

If you have a homepage, you are to make sure that it has at least the things below if you wish to get a "+".  If you do not have a homepage, you need to contact me so that we can talk if you have questions.  First, though, read the Student Web Help page that is supplied by the CTI folks. 

1.                  Introduction Page:  It would be good to modify this page, if appropriate, to reflect that you are now working on the site for Core 155. 

2.                  Links Page:  Update and annotate the links you have on this page.  Explain their relevance to the course.

3.                  Projects Page: Update this to include all of your projects from last semester and MP #1 and MP #2 from this semester.  Remember to save these as web pages in Word.  If you want, you might put them in tables so as to keep them from spreading all over the screen in the browser.

4.                  Journal/Sketchbook Page: Be sure to put in a couple of scans of pages produced this semester.

5.                  Viewer Experience:  Work on the style to make it easier for the viewer to read—i.e., the color combinations, layout, etc.  Also, be sure that the navigation is intuitive.

VIII.     Portfolios by May 11

You need to have everything on the site up through the March 24 list, plus:

1.                  Projects Page: Add the third MP and the conference project.

2.                  Viewer Experience: Get feedback from people about your site and modify it to reflect this.  Ask for critical feedback.

3.                  Surprise Me:  I’ll look for something new that reflects your personality or your interests.  Try to make this something you can be proud of and something that you might wish to use down the line.

Please let me know if you have any questions about these.  They should be accessible from anywhere, so once you have modified your site, I would recommend looking at it from multiple computers.  (Perhaps if you have friends in the class, you can look at each others and make sure they work.)  I won’t pay attention to style this time, but please be sure that your font color and your background color work effectively together (at least).  If you want to do more on this, please do.